At a time when loneliness and isolation are widely debated — issues that are not new, but that deeply affect Generation Z- Rental Family, a film that screened at the Rio Film Festival and finally opens shortly before Christmas, emerges as a work that moves and provokes reflection, carrying a message of hope that feels especially necessary to close out 2025.

In an era when cinema is often pressured to explain itself in just a few words, Rental Family chooses to remain in more uncomfortable — and more human — territory. Directed by HIKARI (Beef, Tokyo Vice), the film is set in contemporary Tokyo and follows Phillip, an American actor in crisis who accepts a job at a Japanese “rental family” agency, playing fathers, partners, friends, and companions for people who need to navigate social situations — and emotional voids — with someone by their side.

What begins as an hourly service gradually becomes a delicate study of belonging, ethics, and affection. For Brendan Fraser, who stars in the film after the impact of The Whale, the story lives precisely in the gray zone where reality and performance collide. Rental Family does not seek easy answers or quick moral judgments; instead, it observes with empathy what happens when bonds are born through contracts but begin to carry emotional truth.

For viewers familiar with Brazilian pay television, the central premise of Rental Family may recall the Brazilian series Amigo de Aluguel, as both stem from the same contemporary realization: loneliness has become a service that can be outsourced. In both cases, there is the idea of hiring someone to occupy a social role — friend, romantic partner, companion — to ease embarrassment, emptiness, or real absences. That gesture alone says a great deal about a world in which connection has become a demand and affection a scarce resource.

The difference lies in perspective. While the Brazilian series leans into humor, improvisation, and awkward situations without necessarily exploring the long-term emotional consequences of these relationships, the film starring Fraser interrogates the idea far more deeply. Rental Family is not interested only in the service itself, but in what happens when performance begins to generate real affection — especially when children, elderly people, and emotionally vulnerable figures are involved. Fraser insists that the film lives precisely in this gray zone between what is “fabricated” and what is real, asking whether bonds created by contract can still generate belonging — and at what point that becomes dangerous.

There is also an important cultural distinction. In Rental Family, the practice is observed within the Japanese context, where loneliness, social formality, and limited access to spaces of emotional listening shape this type of service. The film avoids exoticism and treats the “rental family” with seriousness, almost as an institutionalized social symptom. CLAUDIA spoke with Brendan Fraser about this ambiguous terrain, his relationship with Japan, director HIKARI, and how previous experiences — including time spent in Brazil — shaped his understanding of the character.

CLAUDIA: What is Rental Family?
Brendan Fraser: Set in contemporary Tokyo, Rental Family follows Phillip, an American actor who has lost his sense of direction and ends up working for a Japanese ‘rental family’ agency, playing fathers, partners, friends, and companions for clients who need company in social and emotional situations. As he becomes involved in these lives, genuine bonds form, and the line between performance and reality begins to blur.

CLAUDIA: Where is the heart of the film?
Brendan Fraser: Oh, they’re both tricky, aren’t they? That’s where the film lies. That’s where the reality of the movie circumstances and then the fabrication of the surrogacy, the fantasy of it, collide. And the area in between — that’s where this movie lives.

CLAUDIA: Does the film believe that ‘substitute’ relationships can help?
Brendan Fraser: So, for whatever those differences are, they fit right into the notion of asking ourselves if we can get relief, if we can be satisfied, if it can do some good for us to have a person step in as a substitute. And if only for a short time, I can see how it can be beneficial.

CLAUDIA: Why did this project stand out to you?
Brendan Fraser: I made some choices, which were to select a film project that seemed unique, something that would stand apart from what would typically be expected of me. Something that made me want to go on a journey and innovate, because I really don’t believe this story has been told in this way before.

CLAUDIA: How did your partnership with director HIKARI begin?
Brendan Fraser: I met Hikari initially for coffee, which became a conversation that went from the patio of a hotel restaurant into the library for hours and hours. We talked about pretty much everything except the movie. But we realized we had a lot in common and a very similar vision of where this should go.

CLAUDIA: The title Rental Family can sound provocative. What does it represent?
Brendan Fraser: It’s all in the title — Rental Family. You might think one thing right away. If you want to make a pejorative joke, go ahead. But if you look a little closer, you’ll see that it serves a purpose.

CLAUDIA: What was it like living and working in Japan, and how does that connect to earlier experiences, like your time in Brazil?
Brendan Fraser: Sure. I’ll tell you a little about myself. I’m the son of a foreign tourism official, so our family moved every three or four years. Most of my formative years were spent in new places, reinventing myself with new friends, new schools, that sort of thing.

And I don’t think I realized it at the time, but what that did was give me a sense of personal security — to feel comfortable in my own skin, no matter where I was. So I don’t personally have a problem adapting to new places. And I don’t see Phillip as having that same problem.

“What he does have is a longing for companionship and a void to fill in an intangible way — that universal need for company.

And the fact that he’s in Japan — a stranger in a strange land — means he’s left the West behind for whatever reasons they may be; you can decide what they are. But the fact is, he doesn’t want to be where he was before. He’s decided to go somewhere else. Not for a nefarious reason, but because he’s on a voyage of discovery.

He probably doesn’t know it, but he has a very strong paternal instinct. And whether he would admit it or not, he’s always looking for a father. Which he clearly finds in this child, Mia, almost immediately, and certainly also in that older actor, already in the twilight of his life, Akira. Oh, and by the way — I loved my time in Brazil. Thank you. It was in São Paulo.

CLAUDIA: Who is Phillip, ultimately?
Brendan Fraser: I don’t see Phillip as someone who has trouble adapting. What he has is this longing for companionship and this intangible void. He didn’t leave the West for something dark. He’s on a journey of discovery.

CLAUDIA: Is the relationship with the child the film’s greatest moral test?
Brendan Fraser: Yes. When Phillip is hired to pretend to be Mia’s father — a girl raised by a single mother — the job requires more than just formal presence. He has to build a real relationship, and that raises deep ethical questions about affection, responsibility, and emotional consequences.

CLAUDIA: Was the success of The Whale decisive for Rental Family to exist?
Brendan Fraser: Yes. The success of The Whale got me this job. That’s absolutely sincere. Getting films financed these days is very difficult.

CLAUDIA: Is Rental Family cinema — or just another movie?
Brendan Fraser: With Rental Family, I attest that this is still possible — with the distinction that this is cinema, not just a movie.